A simple question:
What qualifies as a research publication?
Two criteria spring to mind:
- Peer-reviewed: The article has gone through some form of formal peer-review process.
- Dead-tree proceedings: The article has been published in a bound collection of thin sheets of dead tree.
In terms of exceptions to 1., many book chapters do not rely on a formal peer-review process but are generally considered as research publications and listed in author bibliographies. Similarly, some may consider arXiv, etc., as publications and counting towards h-index counts.
In terms of exceptions to 2., various workshops (esp. in CS) publish on-line through systems like CEUR or informal web-site proceedings, are peer-reviewed and contain in-depth technical material. As online publishing becomes more commonplace, criterion 2 will grow weaker and weaker.
Is there something else I'm missing?